


Finding Marlin

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Category: Finding Dory (2016), Finding Nemo (2003)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 05:54:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14743199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: Life with Dory was - well, it was going to be different.





	1. what's waiting out there, we can never know

**Author's Note:**

> I know Finding Nemo doesn't really have a fandom, but I just couldn't shake this idea.  
> Titles are from Nemo the Musical songs; some scenes especially in the first chapter are heavily influenced by the show as well.

Now, usually when Dory walked into people, it was _her_ fault. She’d be lost in her thoughts, trying to remember where she was going or coming from or looking for, and before she knew it – bam! She’d walk right into another human person (or a pole, or a mailbox, or a trashcan…)

But not this time – no, this time, a frantic red haired thirty-something had barreled into Dory at full speed, and seemed to only register that he’d run into someone when, after sending her sprawling to the ground, he tripped over Dory’s legs and landed next to her.

“My son – my son, he’s gone,” he was saying, more to himself than to her. “He’s gone –“ He looked up, his warm brown eyes meeting hers. “They had a boat on a trailer, a white boat. They took my son.”

“A boat?” repeated Dory, glancing back up the road, a vague memory coming back to her. “Hey, I’ve seen a boat. Uh, this way – it went this way, follow me!”

\--

Life with Dory was – well, it was going to be different than life was before. Nemo could tell right away on the drive home after the incident, because even though they were just barely out of a Very Stressful Situation, Dad was laughing in the car. He thought at first that Dad was still a little hysterical, but he seemed pretty relaxed.

Nemo’s prediction, made in the back seat of Dad’s car while watching him smile genuinely at someone other than Nemo himself for pretty much the first time in Nemo’s memory, was proved true time and time again just within the first few weeks of knowing Dory. Within the first days, even.

They got home on Friday night, and Dory drove Nemo and Dad to school on Monday, reminding Dad that the best thing for Nemo was for things to go back to normal. She parked on the side street near school, and walked with the two of them to the student entrance.

“Now, go and get some knowledge,” Dad said a little awkwardly, patting Nemo on the shoulder.

“And come home when you’re done,” Dory added with a wink.

Nemo rolled his eyes, grinning. “I promise I’ll be careful.”

“But remember to have fun,” said Dad, smiling back.

Nemo gave his dad a hug, mumbling an “I love you” into his shirt, then turned to high five Dory.

“Bye Elmo!”

“Nemo,” Dad corrected quietly. He looked a little nervous about letting Nemo go, but Dory took his hand and squeezed it, smiling.

Nemo just laughed. “Bye, Dory! Bye, Dad.”

Dad smiled too. “Bye son.”

And then Nemo walked away. He glanced back, but Dad wasn’t following him in this time – just standing right where Nemo had left him, in the shade of the big tree across the alley from school drop off. Dad waved when he saw Nemo looking, but didn’t say anything, just leaned into Dory a little. Turning back towards school, and the friends he could see waiting on the playground, Nemo decided that life was changing, but it was definitely changing for the better.

\--

Their house was small, but it suited them. It only had two true bedrooms – Marlin’s and Nemo’s – and when they brought Dory home with them, Marlin had initially panicked, because he’d invited this woman into his house and couldn’t actually give her anywhere to stay. But Dory, in her Dory way, had poked her head into the finished attic that had once been Marlin’s home office-slash-home school classroom and said, “what about here?” and that had been that.

When she first moved in, the room didn’t feel very Dory, but she made her presence known. She didn’t even spend much time in it, preferring to lounge on the couch downstairs watching tv with Marlin or play with Nemo in his room or the back yard. Still, before long the room – and the house – were unmistakably Dory’s, and Marlin found himself wondering how they’d ever filled it without her.

He was cooking dinner, while Dory and Nemo worked through Nemo’s math homework at the kitchen table. Dory had a knack for helping Nemo with his homework (helping anyone, really, hence her job as a teaching assistant). Through a combination of clever trickery and genuine forgetfulness, she convinced the 9-year-old to walk her through each problem, guiding him gently when he got stuck. Marlin was struck by how _right_ it looked, his son and his – his best friend sitting together and giggling over long division.

In fact, Marlin was so entranced by watching them, his two favorite people in the world, going about their perfectly ordinary lives, sunlight streaming in the window, that he almost burnt his grilled cheese. Snapping himself out of it, he rescued the sandwich before it was reduced to charcoal, sliding it onto a plate next to the other two sandwiches, which he then picked up and brought over to the kitchen table.

“Hey, guys,” Marlin said, setting the plates on the table, “think you can spare a minute for dinner?”

“Aw, yes! Grilled cheese!” said Nemo, dragging a plate toward himself.

“Of course we can,” Dory replied, smiling absently. “Why couldn’t we?”

Marlin shook his head, smiling, and they settled in for a lively dinner.

\--

About a year after moving in with Marlin and Nemo, Dory passed out in the aquarium on a class field trip. Marlin had to leave work early to go pick her up and take her home, where he set her up on the couch with a snack and an ice water and tried to stop her from getting up.

Unfortunately, the bump on the head seemed to have shaken something loose for Dory, and she was determined to not only get up, but leave the house and head for California. Which was how the family found itself standing on the end of their block, in varying states of pajamas, slipper-footed.

“We’ve done our road trip!” Marlin insisted, his hands on Dory’s shoulders trying to steer her back toward the house, “The only reason to travel is so you never have to do it again!”

“Marlin! Marlin, please,” replied Dory, “I have to go – I have to find my parents! Look, all I know is - is I miss them. I didn’t know what that felt like. Do – do you know what that feels like?”

“Yeah,” said Marlin, looking at Nemo. “I know what that feels like.”

“I can’t do this alone,” Dory said. “Please.”

Marlin sighed. He looked from Dory, who was as focused as he’d ever seen her, to Nemo, who was looking up at Dory with a mixture of concern and fear on his face. “Alright. But we’re doing this right. We have to go home and pack, and call the school, and get _dressed_.”

Dory barely seemed to hear him. She just slid forward under his arms until she was close enough to wrap hers around him in a tight hug. “ _Thank you_.”

\--

“- and now you can move back!” Jenny was saying, her hand on Dory’s cheek. She gestured toward the house.

“Move back?” repeated Dory. “I can’t, I can’t stay here. I have a life, a job, a home – I can’t just pick up and leave.”

“Dory, I’m sure your life in Reefton is comfortable,” said Charlie in a soothing voice, “but don’t you think that this Marlin might want his life back?”

Dory laughed, a kind of frustrated, hysterical laugh. “You know what? I really don’t. We have something really _good_ going – we take care of each other, I help with Nemo, and everyone we know tells me how much happier Marlin is. That I’m as good for him as he is for me.”

“But Dory, this is your home,” Jenny said insistently. “We’re your family.”

“I know,” replied Dory, “but –“

Before she could finish her thought, she heard Nemo call, “Dory!” and turned to catch him in a spinning hug when he all but flew at her.

“Hey, Nemo,” she said as she set him down. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist.

“I thought we might never see you again,” he mumbled into her shirt.

“Of course not,” replied Dory. She kissed the top of his head. “I couldn’t leave the rest of my family behind.”

Nemo looked up at her, eyes wide. “We’re family?”

“Well, yeah,” said Dory. She looked up, meeting Marlin’s eyes. “Do you know what that feels like?”

“Yeah,” agreed Marlin, a soft look in his eyes. “I know what that feels like.”

Dory smiled. Then she turned her attention back to her parents, one hand absently rubbing Nemo’s back to soothe him. “Mom, Dad, I am so glad I found you, and I want you in my life, but I can’t just pick up and leave my life behind. If you want to be close, we can help you find a place near ours, but I’m not moving.”


	2. we just keep swimming on

“Uh, hey, dad?” Nemo said cautiously, leaning on the doorframe of Marlin’s bedroom.

“What’s up, kiddo?” replied Marlin absently as he dug through his sock drawer.

“Well, uh, Mother’s Day is coming up; we’re having this big party. Everybody’s bringing their moms and –“

Marlin’s head snapped up, his eyes locking on his son. “I know this is a rough time of year for you, Nemo, if there’s anything –“

“ _Dad_ ,” Nemo interrupted, looking a little put out. “That’s not – you’ve got it backwards. See, cause, like, so Tad is bringing his stepmom? Cause his real mom doesn’t live in town anymore? And I was thinking – I kind of –“ He took a deep, steadying breath. “I want to ask Dory to come.”

“Dory?” repeated Marlin.

“Yeah,” said Nemo. He chewed on his lower lip for a moment. “I know she’s not, like, my mom-mom. But she’s like a mom. She does all the – the mom stuff.”

Marlin didn’t say anything, but he sat down on his bed, socks forgotten.

“If you don’t think it’s a good idea, I won’t ask her,” Nemo continued, working his way through what seemed to be a fairly rehearsed speech. “I just – I thought it might be nice.”

“You know, there’s nothing _wrong_ with not bringing anyone to the Mother’s Day party,” Marlin said, but he immediately regretted it when he saw Nemo’s face fall.

“I know,” said Nemo. “I know, it’s just – well, I never minded much before. I mean, I’m not the only one who doesn’t have a mom. Pearl has two dads and no mom, so she just brings two dads on father’s day and that’s great. But I have one dad and no mom and one _Dory_.” He shifted his weight from side to side a little. “There isn’t exactly a ‘bring your ambiguous non-parent adult to school’ day. Dory’s a girl, so mother’s day’s it.”

Marlin frowned. He hadn’t thought of it that way, but Dory really was the closest Nemo had ever had to another parent. She was registered with the school as a guardian, she lived in their house and helped take care of Nemo –

“Dad?” Nemo interrupted Marlin’s thoughts. “If you think it’s a bad idea I won’t do it.”

“No,” said Marlin, sweeping his hands through his hair, “you should. She’ll love it.”

\--

Dory did, in fact, love it. She scooped Nemo up and spun him around until she forgot why she was so excited, then got excited all over again when he reminded her.

Setting him down again, she asked, “but are you sure, kiddo?”

She wasn’t looking at Nemo when she asked, her eyes fixed over his head – toward the doorway where Nemo was sure, if he’d turned around, he’d see his father standing. “Of course I’m sure.”

On the day of the mother’s day party, Nemo and Dory went to school as usual, in fact, a little too as usual – Dory squeezed Nemo around the shoulders then walked off to her own classroom. Nemo shook his head, smiling. He stuck his head into Mr. Septon’s classroom and told him he’d be right back, then scurried off down the hall.

Nemo tapped on the doorway of Mr. Ray’s classroom. “Uh, Mr. Ray?”

“What can I help you with, Nemo?” the 3rd grade teacher asked.

“Can I borrow Miss Bronwen?” asked Nemo. He nodded toward Dory, who was leaning over a student’s desk, talking to the girl’s mother. Mr. Ray gestured for Nemo to go ahead. “Hey, uh, Miss B?”

Dory looked up. “Oh, hey, Nemo! What brings you here?”

Nemo rolled his eyes. “Dor, it’s Mother’s Day, remember?”

“It is,” agreed Dory, gesturing to the various moms sprinkled throughout the room.

“You’re coming to the party?” prompted Nemo.

“Right!” Dory crossed the room, waving goodbye to her students. “I’ll be back before lunch!”

Laughing, Nemo led her out of the classroom and back down the hall to his own. They sat down side by side by Nemo’s desk and waited while everyone took turns welcoming their moms to school.

And then his turn came, and Nemo stood up in front of his classmates to introduce her:

“My mom died when I was born, I never knew her,” he paused here, to allow the other mothers in the room a moment to feel sorry for him, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at their sad sighs, “but Dory – Dory’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to a real mom. You guys already know her; she’s a teaching assistant for Mr. Ray’s class, and she’s the best at everything.” He giggled. “Except remembering anything.”

“Hey,” Dory said in a play-offended tone, “I remember _you_ , don’t I?”

“Yeah, Dor, you do.” Nemo sat back down next to her, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. “I love you.”

“Love you, too, kiddo.”

\--

“Hey, Deb, it looks like we’re going to be out of town for a couple of days,” Dory said, leaning on the office receptionist’s desk two weeks later. “Sam’s class should be okay without coverage for me tomorrow – we’ve got marble party then a field trip, so there’s going to be parents out the wazoo. After that he’ll, uh, he’ll need someone.”

Deb nodded, flipping through the sub book. “I’ll pass it on – do you know how long you’ll be out?”

Dory only shrugged. “At least two days, maybe more. Not sure. Just tell Hank to email me Nemo’s homework until we get back, it’ll be done by the time we get back.”

“Of course,” replied Deb. “Dor, what’s going on? Marlin Anthony doesn’t exactly do impromptu vacations.”

Dory rubbed the back of her neck. “Marlin didn’t make it in to work today.”

“Oh my god, is he okay?”

“I don’t think he’s hurt or anything – I’m his absolute emergency contact. I’m labeled ICE in his phone, he carries this little card in his wallet behind his ID with my info and the school’s,” Dory said, trying to sound certain. “If something happened to him I would know. No, I think he’s run off somewhere, so we’re running after him.”

Dory glanced through the office's glass door at Nemo, who was sprawled on the hall floor, showing off his prosthetic leg to a little knot of kindergarten and first graders. "He's done it for us."

“Does that mean you know where he’s gone?” Deb asked.

“Know?” repeated Dory. “No. But, uh. We’re going to visit Nemo’s grandparents, I think that’s the best place to start.”

“His parents’ house? You think he’s gone home?”

“Not Marlin’s parents. Coral’s.”

\--

Nemo sat in the back seat of Dory’s car, leaning on his window. “Do Gram and Gramps know we’re coming?”

“I emailed your grandpa before we left,” Dory answered. “So probably?” They were stopped at a stoplight, so she twisted around in her seat to look at him. “This idea isn’t completely crazy, is it?”

“No,” Nemo replied slowly. “He’s been talking about mom a lot lately. Especially since – especially since mother’s day, you know?”

“Yeah, exactly,” said Dory, turning forward again as the light changed. “And you’re turning ten soon.”

“What does that have to do with it?”

“Well your mom died when you were born, right?” Dory bit her lip. That came out a little more on the nose than she’d meant it to.

For Nemo’s part, he was fairly unfazed. “Yeah. I guess that means it’s been ten years since that too.”

“So all I can hope for is that Dawn and Bob will have had a visit from your dad, too, because otherwise I don’t know where to look.”

“He’s not going to ignore our messages forever,” Nemo said, looking out the window. “If he’s not in Bayview, we’ll just keep looking.”

\--

Marlin _was_ in Bayview, but he wasn’t at his in-laws’ house.

Dory and Nemo found him in the cemetery where Coral was buried, sitting cross-legged in front of her headstone. For a long time, none of them said anything. Dory didn’t think Marlin even noticed them at first, not until Nemo sat down on the ground next to him. Dory hung back – on the way over, Nemo had told her that while they’d never exactly shied away from the whole ‘mom is dead’ thing, Marlin had never taken him to her grave. In fact, Nemo had been pretty sure Marlin himself hadn’t been here since Nemo was a baby. They’d moved to Reefton and that had been that.

“Dory?”

Marlin was looking back at her. She nodded, and sat down on his other side, wrapping her arm around Marlin’s shoulders.

The three of them sat like that for a while, but when the sun started to set, Dory stood up and tugged on the shoulder of Marlin’s shirt. They trekked back to the cars, agreeing to meet back up at Dawn and Bob’s.

When they arrived at Nemo’s grandparents’ house, Dory pulled Marlin into the dining room while Nemo went to help his grandmother make dinner. He could see them from the counter where he was helping peel potatoes, but he only caught snatches of their conversation.

“- the hell, Marlin?” Dory was saying, leaning faux-casually on the dining room table.

Marlin mumbled something Nemo didn’t catch, shaking his head.

“No shh-“ exclaimed Dory, clamping her mouth shut on the curse with a glance toward the open doorway. Nemo made an effort to look like he was concentrating on potatoes. But he could still hear when she hissed, “No _shit,_ Mar!”

“I’m sorry,” Marlin said quietly.

“You could have told me where you were going,” replied Dory. “That you were going.”

“I didn’t – I should have.” He shook his head. “I just needed to come here. It’s been on my mind for weeks. Since –“

Dory cut him off, but she was speaking too quietly for Nemo to hear. He had a pretty good guess where this was going, though; Marlin had been super weird since mother’s day. Since Nemo had convinced him to let him take Dory to the mother’s day party. Had that really been the thing to send Marlin running?

Nemo didn’t tune back into their conversation until he heard his father say his name. “Nemo was right – you’re the only woman, the only _person_ , who’s ever been anything like another parent to him. You’re the closest he’ll ever have to a mother; Coral – Coral never got the chance.”

“Marlin, I –“ Dory faltered. Nemo couldn’t even begin to guess where she was trying to go with that sentence, and never found out because Marlin cut her off.

“No, Dory, it’s alright,” he said, “ _I’m_ alright. I just had to take some time to wrap my head around things. Around how easily all of this fell into place before I even knew I was moving on.”

Nemo took the opportunity of a quiet moment to glance over from his potato peeling, and saw Dory put her hand on Marlin’s shoulder.

\--

“You don’t _have_ to,” Dory said, “you don’t have to do anything. Our family is good, what we have works for us, whatever we –“ she waved her free hand between the two of them – “call ourselves.” She sighed; she didn’t remember if she’d ever told Marlin this, and she wasn’t sure if this was an appropriate first time, but – “I love you, Marlin. I just want you to be happy.”

“I am,” Marlin said softly. “More than I have been in a long time.”

“Good.” Dory smiled, relieved her statement had gone over well. “Next time you want to come here, just say so, alright? Stuff like this we should do as a family.”

Marlin nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t – I just felt like I had to come here alone. I needed –“ he shook his head, “this is going to sound ridiculous. I needed Coral’s permission.”

“For what?” asked Dory, her fingers tightening on Marlin’s shoulder involuntarily.

“For this.” And then he kissed her.

He approached slowly, giving her plenty of time to step aside or turn her head, but she didn’t. It wasn’t Dory’s first kiss, at least she was pretty sure it wasn’t her first, but it was definitely the first in a while. She felt like her heart was simultaneously trying to fly away and fall somewhere near her feet from sheer shock. Sure, she knew she and Marlin had been dancing around _something_ for a long time, but at this point she wasn’t confident it was actually going to go anywhere new. Yet here they were, somewhere new.

The moment broke when Nemo, who was in the kitchen and not being subtle about eavesdropping at all, said, “Ugh, finally.”

Dory pulled away from Marlin, chuckling. “You know, Mar, you didn’t have to drive three and a half hours from home to kiss me.”

“Oh, I didn’t?” replied Marlin, also smiling. He touched his forehead to hers. “What should I have done, then?”

“We live in the same house,” Dory said. She gave him another quick peck before continuing. “You could’ve just walked up to me and said, ‘hey Dory, can I kiss you?’ and I would’ve said yes.”

Marlin laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Are you two _done_ yet?” Nemo called. “Gram says I’m not allowed to cut up the potatoes by myself, so if one of you doesn’t help we’re not having any!”

Marlin and Dory broke apart, laughing, and went into the kitchen together to help their son, because even when everything changes life goes on.

(And nothing had really changed.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a small note about this story: the reason I actually sat down to write it is all down to one single lyric written for the musical that always ends up with a Marlin/Dory moment (show finale and the ride finale), and that lyric became the first chapter title. It really sticks out to me every time I see the show, and I think in context it's a sweet sentiment. And now I've written a fic about it.


End file.
